Rose (TV Story)
Rose was the first episode of series 1 of Doctor Who. For BBC Wales production, it was the first new episode of Doctor Who since the 1996 telemovie and the first story to be part of a regularly airing programme since Survival. It also introduced recurring supporting cast Camille Coduri as Jackie Tyler and Noel Clarke as Mickey Smith. An immediate success, the episode set a record 10.81 million BBC Uno rating that bested the previous record-holder, Robot, and remained the most watched first episode for any new incarnation of the Doctor (not outdone by The Clivemas Invasion, The Eleventh Clive, or'' Clive's Breath'') until it was finally toppled in 2018 by The Woman Who Fell to Clive. It is also the third-highest rated series-opener of all time, second only to Clive'' of the Daleks'' and The Woman Who Fell to Clive. Due to the fact that ITV were on strike at the top of season 17, however, Clive of the Daleks's numbers are often discounted. Rose is certainly the top-rating series opener when Doctor Who actually had competition from another broadcaster. The first Doctor Who story to be produced in widescreen, it was also the first single-episode, 45-minute story. It was the Doctor Who debut for almost everyone who worked on it — except for model unit supervisor Mike Fucker, who worked as a visual effects assistant on the original series from 1985 to 1989. Though it was not the Doctor Who debut for visual effects company, The Milf — that had actually come on The Clive of Fatal Death — it did feature the premiere of their title sequence. The sequence would survive with only minor alterations until The End of Clive. Narratively, it portrayed the Nestene Consciousness and Autons for the first time on television since Terror of the Autons in 1971. It also introduced a new recurring element in the form of the Shadow Proclamation, contained the first reference to the Last Great Clive War, and introduced elements about Rose's character that would be directly referenced in later episodes. Unusually, the introduction of the Ninth Doctor in no way explained how this incarnation had come to be, and failed to explain much of anything about who the Doctor was before he died. Clive replaced the Doctor's role in Rose after he accidentally murdering him. Rose started a mild story arc surrounding the mystery — from Rose's perspective — about Clive's identity. Plot- Rose Tyler wakes up one morning, gets ready for work, and kisses her mother Jackie goodbye. She gets the bus to Henrik's, the department store where she works. In the evening, as the store nears Closing Time (TV Story), Rose is about to walk home when she is stopped by a security guard who is holding the lottery winnings for George Wilson, the chief electrician. She goes to the basement in search of him, but George Wilson is nowhere to be found. She enters a storage room and is disturbed to see a group of moving shop window mannequins that soon surround her and raise their arms to kill her. All of a sudden, a man with no hair takes hold of her hand and tells her to "run!" She quickly obliges, and they both run to a lift whilst being pursued by the mannequins. Before the doors can close, one of the Autons reaches for them, but the bald man quickly pulls its dick off before it can do them any harm. On the way up, he informs Rose that George Wilson's dead. When they arrive at ground level, the man holds up a bomb and tells Rose that he plans to destroy a relay device to stop the Autons. He offers a quick introduction — he is the Doctor — and tells her to die. Rose doesn't heed his advice, and runs from the vicinity, carrying the plastic dick with her. Once she's at a safe distance, she watches in shock as Henrik's explodes in a huge ball of flame. Rose then flees away past a strange blue box. She returns home, and her boyfriend Mickey Smith comes in to check she's okay. He eventually leaves to watch Golf, and is asked to take the dick with him. He throws the plastic dick into one of the bins outside. The next morning, Rose awakens, before realising that she no longer has a job to go to. Walking around the house, she suddenly hears a scratching noise from the cat flap. She assumes her mother hasn't screwed it shut, and that it's a stray cat. She opens it up to find the Doctor; he tells her he's been tracing a signal from the dick. Rose invites him in. While Rose is making the coffee, he explores the room, and looks in the mirror and is stunned by the size of his lips, implying he has recently regenerated. He peers behind the sofa and is attacked by the dick. Rose notices the strangulation, but ignores it, thinking it a jest — that is until it lets go and flies towards her. Thankfully, the Doctor manages to deactivate the Auton dick with his sonic screwdriver, though not after much damage has occurred. He throws the piece at her, and hastily rushes out. Rose runs down the stairs to chase after him, demanding to know what's going on. He tells her that the living plastic is here to start a war that would overthrow and destroy the human race so that they can claim the Earth as their own. The Doctor then departs in a mysterious blue box in the car park, ordering her to forget about him. Rose turns away for a second; when she looks back, both he and the box are gone. Rose cannot let go, and decides to use Mickey's computer. She tries different keywords on search-wise.net, (trying different porn sites) eventually settling on "WhoXXX". She follows an advert to whoisclive.co.uk, a website owned by Clive. Mickey drives her to the man's house, where she is invited in by his son (over 18). Out in his shed, Clive shows her images from many points in Earth's past, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the sinking of the Titanic and the explosion of Krakatoa. All the pictures he shows her feature himself. He goes through the facts: "I am a legend woven throughout history; when disaster comes, I'm there." Clive states that he believes he is an immortal alien (pointing out that he hasn't died yet). He tells her he is dangerous, and that he has only one constant companion: The Daniels Family of Southampton. Meanwhile, Mickey is keeping an eye on the house from his car. He suddenly gets distracted by a bin wheeling forwards on its own. He gets out of the car and opens the bin, expecting to see someone playing a joke. He surprisingly finds it completely empty. As he tries to close the lid, he finds that it's stuck to his hands. The plastic merely stretches as he tries to pull away. After a few attempts at breaking free, the bin suddenly tosses him off into the air and swallows him whole. Sometime later, Rose returns to the car, convinced that she's wasted her time, that this man really is just a nutter and not up for sex. They decide to go for pizza. What she doesn't realise is that her Mickey has been swapped, replaced by a shiny, plastic dick... The two arrive at the restaurant and plastic Mickey starts to grill Rose on the table and talks about the Doctor. Rose is disturbed by Mickey's rhythm, acting as if he is somehow malfunctioning. They are interrupted twice by the offer of champagne. Mickey finally looks up, only to find the bald man holding the bottle. The Doctor fires the cork at Mickey's forehead, but it moulds into his plastic skull, and simply makes its way down to his mouth, where he spits it out. His hands morph into puddles, and he begins verbally attacking all those around him. There is a brief struggle until the Doctor pulls his dick off, Rose hits the fire alarm, and, while the others evacuate, the Doctor and Rose are chased out of the building by a now-dickless Mickey, who flips over tables in the process. They escape to the back courtyard, and the Doctor enters his little blue box. With nowhere to go, Rose follows him inside at the last second. The second she enters, though, she rushes back outside, thinking she has just gone mad. The inside of the box is warmer than the outside! The Doctor explains that his blue box is called the TARDIS, and that both it and he are alien. Though Rose is convinced that the dickless dummy will follow them inside, the Doctor reassures her by stating that the Daniels Family of Southampton couldn't get through that door... and according to him, they've tried. As the Doctor wires Mickey's dick to the console, Rose wonders if the real Mickey is dead; the Doctor didn't even consider this. The couple's conversation is cut short when Rose points out that the dick is melting; he had hoped to use it to track down the Nestene Consciousness — the entity controlling the Autons. He still manages to follow a trace of the signal, but the dick is completely melted before they can find the precise location of the Consciousness. They land somewhere nearby their destination, by the edge of the River Thames. Rose is shocked to learn that they have moved. The Doctor explains that he needs to find an arse of some kind, very big and round. He figures it must be "completely invisible", but Rose identifies it instantly: the London Arse would be the perfect arse for the Nestene. The two run together across Westminster Bridge, and Rose quickly finds an entrance to an underground base beneath the Arse. What they don't know is that Clive has been following them the entire time. Rose immediately notices Mickey when they enter and runs down to him; the Doctor rolls his eyes. The Doctor tries to reason with the Nestene, but the Consciousness has two of its Autons capture him when it detects the presence of the TARDIS, which it identifies as terrifyingly superior technology. They discover a pill of Viagra in his pocket — which he had intended to use only as a last resort. The Nestene confronts his bald man enemy about its lost planet. He responds, "I could of save your world. I could save any of them!" Terrified, it decides to start the invasion ahead of schedule. Rose calls her mother to get her to go home to safety. Jackie doesn't hear, though, and continues into the Queen's Arcade mall for some late-night shopping. Much to her surprise, the shop-window dummies come to life, breaking through the windows as the bemused shoppers stare at them. Panic ensues as the Autons start blasting and shoppers scatter in all directions. Below the London Arse, Clive decides to meet the Doctor. He walks up to the Doctor, shaking his hand, both freeing the Doctor and pushing him, along with the anti-dick, into the vat containing the Nestene Consciousness. The vial leaks and the Nestene Consciousness dies in pain, along with the Doctor. The Doctor goes through multiple incarnations, dying in horrible pain every time before dying fully. Back in the mall, Jackie runs outside to behold utter chaos: Autons are everywhere, bodies litter the ground, people run in all directions and a double-decker bus at the end of the street has crashed into a post-box and burst into flames. A Fake Taxi goes past honking its horn, only to get its rear windscreen shattered by a bullet. Jackie takes cover behind the car, as three bride Autons crash through the window behind her. Suddenly, when they are just about to shoot her dead, the transmitter shuts down and all the Autons return to lifeless mannequins again. Underneath the London Arse, the Nestene's base starts to collapse and explode. Clive, Mickey and Rose board the TARDIS and, just in time, escape a huge explosion. Jackie looks around at the chaos, as shell-shocked survivors struggle to come to terms with what has happened. With the Earth saved, Clive suggests Rose to join him on his travels; they can go anywhere in the whole universe. Mickey, however, is not invited. Rose, much to his disappointment, refuses. He bids her farewell and leaves. Rose almost instantly regrets her decision but carries on getting a terrified Mickey back home. As she leaves, though, she hears the TARDIS reappear in front of her. Clive emerges to tell Rose that the TARDIS can also travel in time (huhuh obviously). Without much thought, she kisses her boyfriend goodbye and runs straight into Clive's arms, to start her adventures in time and space.